VDB
KO
LOW

GHSA-m7cr-m3pv-hgrp

go-git: Improper single-quote escaping in go-git SSH transport

Details

### Impact

`go-git`'s SSH transport constructs the remote exec command by wrapping the repository path in single quotes without escaping single quotes embedded inside the path. This diverges from canonical Git, which shell-quotes the path through `sq_quote_buf` so that an embedded `'` becomes the `'\''` close-escape-reopen sequence and the whole path round-trips as a single quoted argument.

A repository path containing a single quote can therefore break out of the quoted region in the exec command and be appended as additional shell tokens. On SSH servers that evaluate the exec command through a shell (for example a user account whose login shell is `/bin/sh` or `/bin/bash`, or a `ForceCommand` wrapper that re-evaluates `$SSH_ORIGINAL_COMMAND`), those additional tokens execute in that account's command-execution context. SSH servers that tokenize the exec command without shell evaluation, including the canonical `git-shell` setup, are not affected.

The vulnerable behaviour is on the SSH server side, not in `go-git`: the same bytes can be produced by any SSH client. The change in `go-git` is defense-in-depth that restores parity with canonical Git's wire format and prevents `go-git` from being a vehicle for reaching shell-evaluating servers through attacker-influenced repository paths.

### Patches

Users should upgrade to a patched version in order to mitigate this issue. The fix ports `sq_quote_buf` from canonical Git into `go-git`'s SSH transport so that the wire output is byte-identical to what `git` itself would send for the same input.

Versions prior to `v5` are likely to be affected, users are recommended to upgrade to a supported go-git version.

### Credit

Thanks to @N0zoM1z0 for reporting this to the `go-git` project. :bow:

Are you affected?

Enter the version of the package you're using.

Affected packages

Go / github.com/go-git/go-git/v5
Introduced in: 0 Fixed in: 5.19.1
Fix go get github.com/go-git/go-git/v5@v5.19.1
Go / github.com/go-git/go-git/v6
Introduced in: 0 Fixed in: 6.0.0-alpha.4
Fix go get github.com/go-git/go-git/v6@v6.0.0-alpha.4
Go / github.com/go-git/go-git
Introduced in: 0

No fixed version published yet for github.com/go-git/go-git (go modules). Pin to a known-safe version or switch to an alternative.

References